Incubus at La Zona Rosa- more photos... photo by jeff barringer - staff photographer

by jeff barringer
club kingsnake staff

It seems like I have hardly recovered from yet another miserable Delta Airlines experience flying back from Daytona when I have to gear up to travel again. After having to share half my seat, literally, with a morbidly obese woman on an over-sold flight out of Atlanta, who could have figured that Delta's policy(according to my flight attendant Micheal Lamb), was to ask ME to take a later flight or squeeze in between my seat mates. While they continued to board stand-by passengers, I found it odd that I should have to either donate half the seat I paid for or suffer. The seat frighteningly almost collapsed under our weight on take off.

After Delta left me stranded on the tarmac in Atlanta for 4 hours last year and for 8 hours in Dallas the year before that, you'd think I'd have learned my lesson by now. Come to think of it of the last 7 flights I took on Delta, 3 of them qualify for listing in the "worst flights of my life" category. I would sooner pedal a unicycle naked to Florida than fly Delta again.

After spending almost 2 hours crammed into half a seat either between or upon my 2 seat mates, it's no wonder I came down with a monster head cold. It left me floored and unable to see ANY shows for the last week, even missing Perry Ferrell's Satellite Party when they came to Emo's over the weekend. I am still not 100% but luckily my first show back, September 1st, only requires that I travel to San Antonio. I will be heading down on Saturday to check out the Slayer/Marilyn Manson show at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, courtesy of Kerry King and the boys in Slayer. I may get lucky and if Kerry has the time we might just squeeze in an interview. If not, see below...

If Slayer/Manson wasn't playing on the 1st it would be a tough call on who to go see. The Goo Goo Dolls are playing at The Backyard on September 1st as well, and UK based "trance-core" punk musicians Enter Shikari are playing down at Emo's. Tickets are available for both. One thing tickets are NOT available for is the sold-out Incubus gig out at The Backyard on September 3rd, but tickets are still available for The Black Crowes on September 5th, also at The Backyard. We have requested passes to both so we may get lucky and have some great pictures from those shows.

On September 7th I will board another great silver bird and will fly out to California to cover the NARBC expo for our reptile web site. You can bet that I will NOT be flying Delta.

While I am in Anaheim I MAY get Kerry King to let me film his reptile collection, and I am for sure going to cover a neat indie band called the Hymns playing out in West Hollywood on Saturday Sept 8th. I should be doing stills, an interview and some live performance footage. I had hoped to cover Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on their home turf on Friday September 7th, but haven't been able to hook up with them.

Ok so that covers the FIRST week of September. If I survive that I might try to squeeze in a little of ACL fest, but the rest of September appears to be just as busy. Thanks to Kerry for the Slayer hook up, to Jason Roberts of the Hymns for getting me a music gig while I'm in in California, and as always thanks to the whole team at Direct Events and The Backyard. It's been a great summer concert season and it's not even over yet.

Not even Simon Cowell's criticism is as painful as that of Seattle's Lindsey Lawrence. Lawrence, who apparently has a problem with songs by the band Coldplay, pummeled an "unnamed victim" in a karaoke bar with more than just harsh words when the victim chose to sing Coldplay's song "Yellow". After telling the singer that his "singing sucked" that the song "fucking sucked", Lawrence grabbed the mic and then began punching the vocalist in an effort to get him to stop singing. (This sounds a lot like my brothers wedding reception.)

While we empathize with her sentiments regarding some of the music emanating from the Isles of late, we can only wonder how long before she gets her own show on FOX as well. For more on this see the complete story and police report at The Smoking Gun.

Gee whiz, didn't we do this story back in February?....

Haven't checked the with the Vegas odds makers on this yet but after The Police reunion's big payoff a Van Halen reunion is probably certain at this point, and reports are that tour dates will be announced Monday. Expect them to visit a huge stadium nowhere near you in the near future with ticket pricing nearing the stratosphere.

Willie Nelson is headlining Austin's Freedom Fest today along with Asleep At The Wheel, and his daughter Paula Nelson. Freedom Fest. A fund raising concert that focuses on the benefits of marijuana and supports four different policy reform gorups, will be at Austin's Backyard. Tickets are still available, but they have already run out of Doritos and they haven't finished the sound check yet. Lots of other munchies will be available for sale in the concession area and rumor is that Woody Harrelson will be there demonstrating a Segway made entirely of hemp. Hey, is that Matthew McConaughey on the bongos? Ask him if he's seen my car keys...

Isn't it ironic? Eddie Vedder is mad as hell and he's not going to take it any more. Pearl Jam's singer is miffed at AT&T's accidental editing of anti-Bush statements that he made at this weekends Lollapalooza. While AT&T, who provides web casts of major concert events through their free Blue Room service, admitted it occurred, was a mistake and not intentional, Eddie wasn't satisfied and took the opportunity to rail against the "increasingly consolidated control of the media". Of course the irony is that he did this using his BLOG which was picked up by every major wire service on the planet, as well as just about every music blogger in the world. Eddie if the internet has taught us anything its that any idiot, even me, can be a journalist and not even Dick Cheney can block us all.
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news, rumors, and buzz compiled from around the web by the club.kingsnake staff